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Tag: Coronavirus

  • Onitiri applauds Sanwo-Olu over timely action on Coronavirus

    Onitiri applauds Sanwo-Olu over timely action on Coronavirus

    Governor Babajide SanwoOlu of Lagos State has been given a pat for the timely steps taken so far by the government on the coronavirus outbreak in Lagos state.

    In a press release in Lagos yesterday, renowned socio-political activist, Chief Adesunbo Onitiri said SanwoOlu deserves to be commended for this positive action by all Lagos residents.

    “But the Lagos State Government can still do more as Lagosians deserve more.
    No doubt the disease is a serious and deadly one that deserves serious attention.

    “We implore the Governor to ensure that necessary drugs and preventive equipments are provided in all our hospitals in the state.”

    According to Chief Onitiri, there is need for improved health standards in the collection and disposal of wastes in the state.

    “All drainages should be well cleaned and kept in good sanitation. The government should improve on good potable water for the citizens. There should be aggressive public enlightenment on sanitation.”

    Above all, he said, the government should provide sanitizer, face masks and gloves free in all government hospitals, public schools and public centres et cetera.

    Prevention, Chief Onitiri emphasised, is better than cure. The social critic added that all flights coming from China should not be allowed to land in Lagos, so as to protect all Lagosians from the scourge of Coronavirus disease.
    In addition, Chief Onitiri advised Lagosians to abide by the government’s instructions not to panic but wash their hands more regularly and keep their environment very clean always.
    “We cannot afford this epidemic to destroy our economy, population and social life. As we defeat Ebola so we shall defeat Coronavirus,alias COVID 19”, he added.

  • Coronavirus: NCDC cautions lawmakers, speaks on shutting down National Assembly

    The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control has said the decision of the House of Representatives to suspend plenary for two weeks is needless.

    The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this while responding to a question on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

    Ihekweazu said shutting down the lower chamber of the National Assembly could cause panic and send the wrong signal to Nigerians.

    The NCDC boss said, “I have all the respect for the honourable members. They represent Nigerians, they express the anxieties of Nigerians across the country but I think the time has not come (to suspend plenary).

    “If they respond by suspending sessions, everyone else will begin to think ‘should I close my business?’, ‘should I close my office?’, ‘should I close my school? It is disproportionate at this time. I think what the honourable members should do is supporting the work we are doing; the technical work that the experts are doing. Give us your support; give us a sustainable budget so that we can develop the expertise.

    “Ask us for advice so that we can advise you on what to do. If I were asked, I would tell them that it is too early to carry out a measure like that. They need to express by their actions and words, confidence in the government institutions that they have set up and which is their mandate to fund.”

    Ihekweazu, who has been in self-isolation for the last one week since returning from China, asked Nigerians to curb the spread of fake news by only sharing information from the official channels.

    He said gone are the days when cures to diseases could be found in some random village.

    “Cures are found through collective scientific effort and not from my mother’s pot in the village,” the NCDC boss said.

    The NCDC boss said the presence of thermal scanners at the airports was not enough to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus, adding that it takes conscious effort of all stakeholders and Nigerians at large.

  • Coronavirus: Iran releases 54,000 inmates to combat spread

    Iran has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to battle the spread of the new coronavirus disease in crowded jails.

    Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters that the inmates were granted furlough after testing negative for Covid-19 and posting bail.

    “Security prisoners” sentenced to more than five years will not be let out.

    The jailed British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe may be freed soon, according to a British MP.

    Tulip Siddiq cited the Iranian Ambassador to the UK as saying that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe “may be released on furlough today or tomorrow”.

    Her husband said on Saturday that he believed she had contracted Covid-19 at Tehran’s Evin prison and that authorities were refusing to test her.

    But Mr. Esmaili insisted on Monday that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had subsequently been in contact with her family and “told them about her good health”.

    Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed for five years in 2016 after being convicted of espionage charges that she has denied. The UK has also insisted she is innocent.

    A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We call on the Iranian government to immediately allow health professionals into Evin prison to assess the situation of British-Iranian dual nationals there.”

    There have been more than 90,000 reported cases of Covid-19 worldwide and 3,110 deaths since the disease emerged late last year – the vast majority in China.

    The outbreak in Iran has killed at least 77 people in less than two weeks.

    Yesterday, the health ministry said the number of confirmed cases had risen by more than 50% for the second day in a row. It now stands at 2,336, although the real figure is believed to far higher.

    Cases linked to Iran have also been reported by Afghanistan, Canada, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

    Iran reported 835 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 yesterday

    A number of senior Iranian officials have contracted the virus. Among the latest is the head of the emergency medical services, Pirhossein Kolivand.

    Twenty-three of the 290 members of parliament have also tested positive.

    On Monday, a member of the Expediency Council, which advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died as a result of Covid-19 in Tehran. State media said Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, had a close relationship with Ayatollah Khamenei.

    The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wore latex gloves at a tree-planting ceremony

    At a tree-planting ceremony to mark World Wildlife Day yesterday, the supreme leader urged the public to observe the health ministry’s hygiene guidelines and ordered all government bodies to provide any necessary help to the health ministry.

    Ayatollah Khamenei also insisted Iranian authorities were not concealing information about the scale of the problem, saying: “Our officials have reported with sincerity and transparency since day one. However, some countries where the outbreak has been more serious have tried to hide it.”

    Iran’s outbreak, he added, “will not last long in the country and will pack up”.

    Meanwhile, Health Minister Saeed Namaki said a nationwide screening campaign would begin on Wednesday.

    Teams will visit patients who are suspected of being infected with Covid-19 and who do not have access to medical services.

    A team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), who arrived in Iran on Monday, is supporting local health authorities.

    The WHO said they would “review readiness and response efforts, visit designated health facilities, laboratories and points of entry, and provide technical guidance”.

    The plane carrying the experts also contained a shipment of medical supplies and protective equipment to support more than 15,000 healthcare workers, as well as enough laboratory kits to test and diagnose almost 100,000 people.

     

     

  • IOC backs Tokyo 2020 despite Coronavirus outbreak

    IOC backs Tokyo 2020 despite Coronavirus outbreak

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday gave further unequivocal backing to this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, urging athletes to prepare “full steam” in spite of the coronavirus threat.

    “We are preparing for a successful Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020,” IOC head Thomas Bach said at an executive board meeting to discuss the July 24 to Aug. 9 sporting extravaganza.

    Earlier on Tuesday, Japan’s Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto had said that details within Tokyo’s contract with the IOC “could be interpreted as allowing a postponement” until the end of the year.

    That host city contract states that one of several triggers which would allow the IOC to withdraw the Games from Tokyo would be if “the Games are not celebrated during the year 2020”.

    Hashimoto said, however, that Japan’s government and Tokyo were still committed to the Games beginning on July 24, and the IOC has repeatedly swatted aside any suggestions of a postponement.

    The Olympics body said again on Tuesday there was no Plan B, and that the Games would take place in their allotted time slot.

    Any change to dates would instantly wreak havoc on most sports programmes, with competition calendars planned several years ago to accommodate the Tokyo timings.

    Finding a new date in 2020 at this stage would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the 33 sports federations present in Tokyo.

    This would even first need the green light from the IOC.

    Bach, a 66-year-old lawyer and former Olympic fencing champion, has an iron grip on IOC decision-making and is known for sticking to his guns in adversity.

    “I will like to encourage all the athletes to continue their preparation for the Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020, with great confidence and full steam,” the German told reporters in Lausanne.

    “From our side, we will continue to support the athletes and the National Olympic Committees (NOCs).”

    Multiple sports events around the world have been cancelled during the epidemic.

    It has killed more than 3,000 people in China and spread to more than 60 nations, including Japan where infections are near 1,000 and 12 people have died.

    “Crowds will be smaller and receptions have been scrapped at the Tokyo 2020 torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia, Greece next week as the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) introduced measures to protect against the coronavirus,’’ it said on Tuesday.

    In spite of concerns over possible health risks to spectators and participants at the Games, the Olympic body is unwilling to publicly discuss any other option, such as cancellation or postponement.

    “No,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said when asked if the Olympic body had discussed possible options if the situation deteriorates.

    “There is no international travel ban and all the advice that we are getting is that the Games can and will go ahead,” Adams said.

    “At this precise time we are expecting the Games to begin on the 24th day of July.”

  • Kolanut, Garlic, Palm wine, others not cure for Coronavirus – Minister

    Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora has cautioned Nigerians against the use of herbal products to protect themselves from Coronavirus (COVID-19).

    Mamora spoke in Abuja when he appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)’s Forum.

    “There have been so many claims by some Nigerians that bitter kola can be used to cure coronavirus. It is true that bitter kola has anti-viral properties, but I am not sure how the anti-viral properties affect coronavirus. I have also heard of garlic, lemon, palm wine, and even chloroquine

    “We caution against the use of so many herbal drugs because science has a basis and there is a procedural process to laying claims to whatever,’’ he said.

    Mamora advised Nigerians not to panic, declaring that people should allow themselves to be “ruled by facts, not fears”.

    He said that the best prevention was to practice good personal hygiene by washing hands under running tap water with soap or ash, as well as the steady use of hand sanitisers.

  • Coronavirus: Lawmakers demand closure of NASS for two weeks, gives reasons

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday resolved that the National Assembly should suspend plenary for two weeks to enable the management install facilities to screen and detect coronavirus.

    This was sequel to the unanimous adoption of an amendment moved by the Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu.

    Elumelu moved the amendment while members were debating a motion of Urgent Matters of Public Importance on tackling coronavirus by Rep. Josiah Idem (PDP-Akwa-Ibom).

    Amending the motion, Elumelu said that there were no facilities to check people entering the National Assembly Complex to detect coronavirus.

    He said that anybody infected could walk into the premises, shake hands with people and spread the virus.

    “I urge the leadership of the National Assembly to suspend plenary for two weeks to allow management to sanitise and put facilities in place to detect the virus.

    “Let the Committee on Health and other relevant committees ensure compliance,” he said.

    Moving the motion earlier, Idem said that there was need for the leadership of the assembly to constitute a committee to interface with government to eliminate the virus.

    He called for the release of more emergency funds to support the Federal Minister of Health to eliminate the novel virus.

    The lawmaker stressed the need to intensify surveillance at all national borders and called for the immediate activation of centres designated for the treatment.

    Idem said that risk communication should be intensified and laboratory services be expanded recommending that two isolation centers should be cited in each geo political zones.

    Rep. Inombeck-Awaji Abiante (PDP-Rivers) said that a motion to bring back Nigerians stranded in China was thrown out by the House for fear of importing the virus.

    He said that though the ministry of health assured the public that the country was ready to contain the virus, it had found its way into the country.

    The lawmaker said that it showed that government was not really prepared for the virus as Nigerians were made to believe.

    Rep. Nasir Alliyu (APC-Kano) said that there were only three isolation facilities so far in the country.

    According to him, they are located in Abuja, Lagos and Edo and that the one in Abuja, which has a capacity of less than 30 persons, has not been completed.

    The lawmaker said that with a population of about 200 million, the facilities were grossly inadequate to contain the virus

    “God forbid if we have to quarantine 10,000 persons, what do we do? there is need to get really prepared,” he said.

    Rep. Ibrahim Isiaka (APC-Ogun) said that the place where the infected Italian visited in Ogun was in his constituency after traveling for several kilometres from Lagos.

    He said that what was most disappointing was the fact that he was not detected at entry port.

    The house, therefore, recommended that government should convene an emergency national health conference for all health workers to come together to address the spread of the virus.

    Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase (APC-Plateau) then mandated all relevant committees of the House to ensure compliance.

  • Reps lament over FG’s poor handling of Coronavirus, suspend plenary for two weeks

    Reps lament over FG’s poor handling of Coronavirus, suspend plenary for two weeks

    The house of representatives has resolved to suspend plenary sessions for two weeks to give room for adequate preparation against coronavirus.

    The two-week suspension is also to enable the federal lawmakers to be tested for the virus, the house said on Tuesday.

    It did not immediately say when the suspension will take effect.

    The resolution followed a motion on ‘emergency response to tackle coronavirus’ introduced during the plenary session by Josiah Edem from Akwa Ibom state.

    During the debate on the motion, most of the lawmakers lamented that there is no measure to adequately prepare the national assembly in the event of the infection of staff or any of the visitors.

    Ndudi Elumelu, minority leader, then moved for an amendment that the house should suspend its activities to enable the management put in adequate measures to avoid a spread of the virus.

    He said the Italian who imported the virus into the country travelled to Ogun state and expressed fears the infection could easily spread to other parts of the country including to the National Assembly Complex.

    “This house should suspend plenary for two weeks for adequate handling of this matter and to allow management to put measures so that all of us can be be tested,” he said.

    “This is a very serious matter… otherwise you don’t know who you are shaking.”

    Isiaka Ibrahim from Ogun said the federal government “needs to do more to be pro-active”.

    “The facilities are not here presently,” he said, adding: “There are only two control centres, one in Lagos and one in Abuja. Nigeria is standing at zero as far as this is concerned.

    “This is a wake up call for all of us. We are not talking about coronavirus. What is the case after coronavirus?”

    Awaji-Inombek Abiante from Rivers state said there is nothing to check the spread of the virus to the National Assembly Complex.

    “We brought down a motion to bring down our brothers and sisters in Wuhan for fear that we don’t have the capacity to handle it. Now, our fears have caught up with us,” he said.

    “We saw where ministers were praising themselves that Nigeria was ready for the coronavirus. We should be more pro-active. Here, there is nothing to check any man who is symptomatic.

    “We don’t have anything at all. Are we ready for what is coming to us? The answer is no. Let us make contributions that will indeed better the future of this country and that of Nigerians.”

    Nasiru Ali from Kano state said it is a sad thing that Nigeria has only three isolation centres despite being Africa’s most populous country.

    Nigeria currently has only one case of the disease in Lagos — an Italian who was diagnosed of the infection last week.

  • Coronavirus: Bundesliga club sorry for ejecting Japanese guests

    Bundesliga side RB Leipzig have apologised to a group of Japanese guests who were asked to leave Sunday’s home match against Bayer Leverkusen amid coronavirus concerns.

    Stewards at the game were told to conduct “increased checks on groups of persons from potential risk areas”.

    Germany’s DPA news agency reported that a group of about 20 visitors were told to leave 10 minutes after kick-off.

    “We would like to and must apologise for this mistake at this point,” said the Bundesliga club.

    “Unfortunately, in this specific case, due to the great uncertainty that currently exists in our country about this topic, a mistake was made in the interpretation of the recommendations to our Japanese guests.”

    Germany has reported 150 cases of the virus.

    The club have since met with the group – part of a delegation attending a course on sports business in Leipzig – and invited them to attend another game.

    In a statement, the delegation said: “We were aware at all times that this incident occurred due to the concern associated with coronavirus, and not due to anything else.”

    It said there had been a “constructive exchange” between all parties involved.

  • JUST IN: Another Chinese national quarantined in Lagos over Coronavirus – LASG

    JUST IN: Another Chinese national quarantined in Lagos over Coronavirus – LASG

    The Lagos State Government on Tuesday confirmed that a Chinese national who came into Lagos on Monday evening has been quarantined.

    Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi disclosed this on Tuesday at a news conference to give updates on Coronavirus.

    He said the Chinese national arrived Lagos aboard Ethiopian Airline and was taken into isolation when he began to manifest symptom of Coronavirus.

    Details soon…

  • GOOD NEWS! Virologist affirm Nigeria’s hot temperature may suppress spread of Coronavirus

    GOOD NEWS! Virologist affirm Nigeria’s hot temperature may suppress spread of Coronavirus

    A Consultant Virologist, Dr Adeola Fowotade, has said that hot tropical climate as obtainable in Nigeria could help suppress the spread of coronavirus COVID-19.

    Fowotade of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, said this while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.

    According to her, some experts think the COVID-19 may behave like the influenza virus, which is a seasonal disease common in colder climate, making Nigeria too hot for coronavirus to spread.

    “That is an extrapolation from what happened with influenza virus also known as the flu, which is most prevalent in colder climate during winter.

    “We believe that if COVID-19 is a Respiratory Tract Infection, probably it will follow the same pattern.

    “There is a very high chance there will be some remission as temperature gets warmer in those temperate places.

    “But for us with tropical climate, we believe that this outbreak might not go on for too long and might abate very soon.

    “This is because the droplets generated by the virus cannot travel far and this virus is an envelope virus.

    “Envelop viruses are very susceptible and cannot survive very long in hot climate,” she said.

    Fowotade, however, emphasised that everyone including healthcare workers must continue to be vigilant and comply with standard hygiene rules.

    “We should still continue to take precautions because we found that this virus has a very high transmissibility, that is, when one person is infected that person has a high chance of infecting four more people.

    “It is very important that we ensure that we prevent infections by observing best precautionary and preventive measures,” she said.

    Also, Dr Kemi Adekanbi, a Consultant Infectious Disease Physician at UCH, said that everyone should practice good hygiene for protection against infections.

    According to her, good hygiene practices include regular hand washing with soap and water, cough and sneezing etiquette and maintaining a safe distance from people when they sneeze or cough.

    NAN reports that COVID-19 was first identified in humans in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

    Although it has since spread to over 50 countries and territories, killed more than 3,000 people and infected over 90,000 worldwide, the World Health Organisation is yet to declare the viral disease a global pandemic.

    Dr Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the WHO, had on Monday said: “we appreciate that people are debating whether this is a pandemic or not.

    “We are monitoring the situation every moment of every day, and analyzing the data.

    “I have said it before and I’ll say it again, WHO will not hesitate to describe this as a pandemic if that’s what the evidence suggests.”